Posts tagged with romance

When it comes to royalty-themed entertainment, Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan's novel The Royal We is more realistic than the many princess-y Hallmark movies, more grown-up than Rachel Hawkins' Royals, and grander in scope than Meg Cabot's effervescent Princess Diaries—but it isn't quite perfect...

This week's Book Giveaway is The Royal We, by Jessica Morgan and Heather Cocks (of Go Fug Yourself fame). This book came out several years ago, and I've always meant to read it, but there was a long, drawn-out battle between my love for Ms. Morgan and Ms. Cocks' writing and my fundamental disapproval of royalty...

Archenemies, the second book in Marissa Meyer's Renegades series, picks up immediately after the events of the first. Heroine Nova Artino is still working as a double agent, torn between her loyalty to the villains who raised her and the morally-questionable “superheroes” who control her city...

This week's Book Giveaway is Archenemies, the sequel to Marissa Meyer's Renegades. We had some realllly big problems with Renegades, but the sequel, at least at first glance, seems to be looking up. A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 11/23/18...

Jasmine Guillory's The Wedding Date boasts a delightful heroine, a memorable hook, and centers around a healthy, sex-positive, power-balanced relationship. I really liked large portions of the story, but thought it fell short on one critical front.

This week's Book Giveaway is Jasmine Guillory's The Wedding Date, which has gotten a lot of absolutely glowing reviews (particularly for a romance novel, which are depressingly prone to being completely ignored by critics). A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 11/23/18...

I am always on the lookout for promising new historical romance novelists, so I was delighted to encounter Renee Ann Miller's Never Dare a Wicked Earl. Sure, I've read more compelling romance and more ambitious historical fiction, but this was a thoroughly respectable, entertaining combination of the two—and that's harder to find than you'd think...

This week's Book Giveaway is Never Dare a Wicked Earl, by Renee Ann Miller. It appears to be her first book, but I'm not at all surprised she was already signed for a series—this is a really solid debut. A full review will...

Shushushu Sakurai's Stupid Love Comedy is an odd duck—it's packaged like a conventional romance manga, but most of the story is devoted to meta jokes and background information about manga publishing. The plot centers around Suzu Sakura, a manga artist who is disorganized, inconsiderate, and perpetually late. When her original editor changes jobs, Suzu is assigned to Hasegawa, the editing department's devastatingly handsome new recruit...

This week's Book Giveaway is Stupid Love Comedy, a lengthy one-shot manga by Shushushu Sakurai. A full review will follow shortly, but please note: due to a bunch of overdue postings, this giveaway will run through 10/26/18...

At first glance, Christina Lauren's Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating looks like a grown-up version of Jenny Han's To All the Boys I've Loved Before: a fluffy, high-concept friends-to-lovers romance. Unfortunately, while Lauren's characters are a decade older than the protagonists of Han's YA romance, they're way less mature...

This week's Book Giveaway is Christina Lauren's new romance Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating. A full review will follow shortly, and please note: due to a bunch of overdue postings, this giveaway will run through October 12th...

It's time for the Toronto Film Festival, and reviews of book adaptations and literary biopics are pouring out. First up is Screen Daily's enjoyably nasty review of Vita and Virginia, about the love affair between...

I am a die-hard Georgette Heyer fan and have sincerely loved Sourcebooks' elegant, well-made reprints of her work, so it pains me to say this, but despite the great cover art and a couple of solid entries, the short story collection Snowdrift is for Heyer completists only...

To All the Boys I've Loved Before is the perfect back-to-school treat: a YA romance with an adorable heroine, endearing love interest, and enjoyably ridiculous plot. Plus, the entire trilogy has already been released, and Netflix has just released a super cute movie adaptation, so impatient fans (read: ME) won't have to wait to see how it all turns out...

This week's Book Giveaway is Jenny Han's To All the Boys I've Loved Before, which I read after watching the cute-as-a-freaking-button Netflix adaptation. Due to a bunch of overdue postings, this giveaway will run through October 12th, so best of luck...

While a lot of online enthusiasm has been focused this week on the film adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians, the Netflix adaptation of Jenny Han's YA romance To All the Boys I've Loved Before has been making waves, too. The Mary Sue recently interviewed Han about the adaptation of her book, and her answers...

There's a massive article in The New York Times about Shonda Rhimes's partnership with Netflix. The streaming service wooed Rhimes away from ABC with a nine-figure deal, and she has agreed to make eight shows for them. I'm particularly excited to see what she does with a proposed adaptation...

Nine times out of ten, a book is better than its movie or television adaptation. No matter how talented the filmmaker, the literary medium—which has no need to worry about production schedules or actors' salaries—is usually best. That isn't always true, however, and Deborah Harkness's novel A Discovery of Witches is a prime example...

We are currently giving away a copy of Deborah Harkness's novel A Discovery of Witches, which the author describes as a book about books. I'm going to post our full review shortly, but: no, it isn't. A.S. Byatt's Possession is a book about books, as are Jasper Fforde's Tuesday Next series and...

I have no idea if Rachel Hawkins timed the release of her new book Royals to coincide with the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, or if it was just a happy accident, but either way people looking for a little more royal-wedding action have absolutely lucked out...

If you're going through Royal Wedding withdrawal, we have just the book for you: we're currently giving away a copy of Rachel Hawkins's new YA novel Royals. Sure, this book is pure fluff, but it does feature embarrassing relatives, snotty aristocrats, silly hats, and an American/royal engagement, so the parallels are uncanny, at least as far as I'm concerned. A full review will follow shortly...

The trailer is out for Netflix's upcoming adaptation of Jenny Han's All the Boys I've Loved Before, and it looks cute, albeit excruciatingly embarassing. I'm still recovering from the news that someone made The Kissing Booth into a (apparently successful!!!) movie...

This week we're going to be reviewing issues 3 through 8 of the comic book miniseries Misfit City, so our Book Giveaway pick this week is the graphic novel compilation Misfit City: Vol. 1, which includes the first four issues. Our review of the rest of the series will be up shortly...

First published in 1959, Georgette Heyer's The Unknown Ajax is one of my all-time favorite books. It has a lot in common with The Grand Sophy—both are stories about a previously unknown relative showing up and taking charge of a troubled family—but The Unknown Ajax, happily, doesn't feature a scene with an offensive Jewish stereotype...

This week's Book Giveaway is The Unknown Ajax, one of my favorite books by Georgette Heyer. The title refers to a character in one of Shakespeare's messier tragedies (Troilus and Cressida), but, thankfully, Heyer's storytelling is considerably more fun. A full review will follow shortly...

In a year when most of the romance novels I've read have been a mild disappointment—even those that came highly recommended or were written by old favorites—I was thrilled to discover Lucy Parker's Act Like It. This short, ridiculously cute read by a new-to-me author more than meets my #1 romance novel requirement...

This week's Book Giveaway is Lucy Parker's debut romance novel Act Like It, published in 2016. It's been a while since I've discovered such a promising new-to-me author, so I'm both excited (yay, she has two more books out!) and chagrined that I just started a month-long shopping ban (delayed gratification is for suckers!). A full review will follow shortly...